


The Temple in the Jungle

by thefoodwiththedood



Series: Star Wars OC Stories [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Canon Divergence - Star Wars Expanded Universe, Devaron, Devaronian, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Gen, Post-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rebels, Zabrak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-02-23 01:03:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13179057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefoodwiththedood/pseuds/thefoodwiththedood
Summary: On his first mission alongside the Devaron's Angels rebel cell, Cerate Evis discovers a temple deep within the Devaronian jungle—a discovery that will change his life forever.





	1. Angels With Horns

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Shadows and Stardust](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11331924) by [thefoodwiththedood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefoodwiththedood/pseuds/thefoodwiththedood). 



> Note: This is an updated version of my original "Shadows and Stardust" piece. Since posting that, I've rethought how I want to structure my OCs' stories, and so I'm posting this again in shorter installments (with new installments to come very soon). Stay tuned for more!

My eyes fluttered open, squinting at the sunlight spilling in from the window above me. I sat up, and the kicked-up dust around me began to dance in the sunbeam. Groggily, I stretched my arms above my head, and as I brought them back down to my sides I began to remember there was a world around me—something I tended to overlook during my midday naps. To my right was the holobook I’d been reading before I’d dozed off: an epic about a hero who discovers his destiny by accident, yet nonetheless goes on to fulfill it. Admittedly, it was a bit of an unrealistic story. I was always told that “destiny” is just something people made up to feel less purposeless in life, and in many respects I think that’s true—but it’s still a fun thought, isn’t it? Anyway, also to my right was the rest of my books: a small, hand-curated library containing everything from the history of the planet Corellia to comics about daring pilots and adventurers. To my left was my stash of snacks, accumulated in small portions over time as to not arouse suspicion. All this was huddled around a small pile of pillows atop a tattered comforter, set under a string of small paper lanterns I’d put up to give me reading light at night. This was my hangout—my own, orderly sanctuary within my chaotic world.

Remembering said world, I quickly looked at the watch on my wrist-com to see how long I’d slept. The others went out not long before, and the last thing I wanted was to miss their return. When I checked, though, I found it was only four in the afternoon—it’d only been two hours. I breathed a sigh of relief and fell back into my pillows, but my relief came with a realization. The others wouldn’t be back for another hour—at least, five was the rough estimate they gave me. “Well great”, I thought, “now I gotta find a way to kill some time.” I thought about going back to my book, but paying attention proved difficult with my excitement clouding my thought. Curious, I pulled myself up to the window and looked out at the horizon to see if their ships were near. Nothing but the familiar dense jungle vines and green skies of Devaron greeted me. So, with nothing else to do, for a moment I just laid among the pillows and kicked my feet aimlessly, but after that too got boring I decided to get up and see what was going on in the rest of the base.

I should mention that my hangout was only a small loft among the rafters of a larger building, separated from the main room by only a balcony and a ladder. The building once housed a weapons factory—one of the many used by the republic to fuel their war effort. Though the factory had long since been abandoned, it had found new life as a home and base of operations for our “efforts,” if they could be called that. From the balcony, I looked down at the main floor: crates of food, supplies, and munitions were stacked in orderly piles here and there, and towards the back of the room sat a row of starfighters, half of them stolen and the other half cobbled together from spare parts. Also in back was a large, open area: a perfect spot for a “main hall” sort of space. Peppered in between all of it were a few Devaronians: the horned men and the fur-covered women alike, all dressed in similar burgundy-colored uniforms. Some sat together at tables, playing sabacc and drinking bootlegged alcohol. Others worked on repairing or modifying their ships and weapons, some even sparring with each other. Some just wandered around the base, waiting for their comrades to return from their mission.

The true centerpiece of the room, however, was the massive symbol emblazoned on the far wall: painted in bright gold and violet was a giant, horned skull, with two massive bird-like wings on either side of it. Our movement’s insignia. It was meant to look intimidating and powerful, but I always saw it as a symbol of hope—while others saw a demon with wings, I saw an angel with horns. That’s exactly what we were called, too. Devaron’s Angels—the brave souls who would rescue our planet from the Empire’s tyranny.

Just as my eyes met the skull’s empty sockets, I began to hear the sound of engines behind me—the others were back early! I ran to the window and pulled myself up to look out, just in time to see their three ships approaching from the west: two YV freighters, and a large bomber flying between them. The freighters were plain as any other ship, but the bomber was a sight to behold—it was a Freefall-class, with extra engines and guns slapped on wherever there was room. It was painted a brilliant dark burgundy as well, accented by gold and violet decals on its wings and a skull painted across its nose. Next to its cockpit window was the ship’s name, painted in black: ”Lady Lucy”, the de-facto flagship of the Angels’ fleet. 

My face lit up as I watched the ships come in, and I immediately ran and slid down my ladder to the factory’s main floor. Evidently everyone else had heard the ships, too, and already a crowd was amassing around the middle of the room. Just as I moved in to join them, the factory’s main doors began to part, and as they creaked to a halt the three ships flew inside. The freighters parted ways and landed in the frontmost corners of the factory, while the Lady Lucy continued to the back of the room before swinging around and touching down, right below the gold and violet skull. 

Instantly, the crowd began to buzz. All around me I heard laughter and cheers as the crews of the freighters disembarked, and the excitement only grew once their haul was brought out. Not wanting to get caught in the fray, I climbed up onto one of the many piles of crates. From there I looked down at the freighters’ cargo: stacked next to one were weapons’ caches and fuel canisters, while the other looked to be carrying crates of food and drinks. You could imagine which one the famished soldiers flocked to first; the food crates were quickly raided, and soon I could see people happily munching on nuna legs and swigging from whiskey bottles. While most feasted, I saw others form circles around the freighters’ crews, and even from atop my perch I could tell they were already relaying the story of the mission. As the red and white wave of celebrating soldiers swept in around the the freighters, horns and tufts of fur bouncing this way and that, I couldn’t help but smile. It was everything the Angels fought for, all in one place. Equality and friendship among men and women. Enough food to go around. Celebration and happiness—and most importantly, a life without fear of the Empire. In a way, watching everyone get drunk and pig out was sort of beautiful.

Not only that, but it was making me hungry. Carefully, I slid myself down the pile of crates towards the food-bearing freighter, but as I reached the floor something stopped me and everyone else in our tracks.

“Ey, dickheads!” from the back of the room, a gruff yet bold voice spoke up, its words mixed in with the sound of metal clanging against metal. Everyone looked back towards the voice and, sure enough, it was Miss Vonnie D’ruexieq. She was among the higher-ranking members of the Angels, not to mention our best pilot and only pilot trusted to fly Lucy. I still remember the way she stood clear as day: one hand on her hip, the other knocking a half-busted stormtrooper helmet against Lucy’s fuselage, all punctuated by an annoyed look on her face. At least, that what I figured she looked like—her unkempt, bleach-blond hair almost always covered her eyes. “If you fine gentlemen n’ ladies are all done stuffin’ ya ugly faces,” she continued, after getting everyone’s attention, “then I suggest ya getcha slimy carcasses over here—Hes’ got somethin’ to say”

At the mention of the name “Hes”, the crowd was thrown into yet another frenzy. The mob quickly shifted towards the bomber, and as they swept in around me my view was all but blocked out. I tried my best to worm my way through, but in everyone’s excitement I was easily overlooked—by all but one, that is. As I continued to push through the crowd, a hand on my shoulder and a hearty, sonorous voice to my right stopped me.

“Hey kid,” the voice said, “need a lift?” I turned, and my eyes met those of Russoc Dhaalgondt, his sharp-toothed smile as warm and kind as ever. He was another high-ranking Angel, though unlike Vonnie he wasn’t as interested in barking orders or throwing shade at his fellow rebels. Russ was always cool that way—even though he was about the biggest, toughest soldier the Angels’ had, he was also about the nicest. I smiled and nodded back at him, and he effortlessly raised me up and set me on his shoulders. From there I had full view of the Lady Lucy, just in time to see the the ship’s top hatch open.

From the hatch emerged a tall, imposing woman, clad from head to toe in scuffed, maroon-painted armor. The bright orange eyes of her horned helmet scanned the crowd before her, and as she stepped forward the gold-and-violet Devaron’s Angels emblem painted above her heart gleamed in the afternoon sun. A hush fell over the room as she reached the bomber’s nose, and from there she stood with her arms crossed, still looking out over the crowd. Silently, she extended a hand out to her left, and without hesitation Vonnie tossed the broken helmet up to her. She raised it above her head, and she began to address the crowd.

“My friends,” she began, the filters of her helmet giving her voice a loud, metallic echo, “you all know me well. You know that, when I speak to you, I try to sound like a leader—like I have all the answers, like I never have been and never will be defeated,” she paused, setting the broken helmet on the ground and putting her hands on her own. With a click, she lifted it off of her head, allowing her pointed ears and her thick, dark red ponytail to spring free. A smile crossed her freckled face, and even from as far back as I was I could see the proud glow in her eyes as she took in the sight of the crowd. Her name was Hes Chaddic: freedom fighter, proud Devaronian, and the greatest friend I would ever know.

Remembering her speech, Hes bent down to pick the stormtrooper helmet back up, still holding hers at her side. “But today,” she continued, her voice sounding much more clear and melodic, “today I wanna speak as a fellow soldier—a fellow survivor,” she paused, setting her own helmet down on Lucy’s hull. Still holding the stormtrooper helmet in one hand, she slid down the front of Lucy’s nose, landing at the front of the crowd. As she walked forward, I could see the people part around her, as if to get in her way was an unthinkable offense. She stopped, raising the broken helmet up once more. “Lets let one ‘a the older guys refresh our memory,” she continued, “where were the Angels, only a year ago today?”

In the back of the crowd, a hand went up. Hes tossed the helmet back to whoever it was, and an old, gravelly voice spoke up. “we just made it back from Serat,” he said, “after our...defeat…”. Seemingly not wanting to say anything more, he threw the helmet back to Hes.

“Exactly,” she continued, “and that’s the Battle of Montellian Serat, for any ‘a you newer recruits,” she paused, hanging her head and sighing. She began to speak more softly, almost more seriously. “It was supposed to be our moment—the day we finally stuck it to the Empire. The day we would change Devaron forever. We gave them everything we had; all our soldiers, all our weapons, all our supporters and allies at our side—we pulled out all the stops. All told, seven hundred went to fight...” she paused again, seemingly struggling to keep her composure, “...only twenty returned. Thirteen men. Seven Women. Plus a droid or two. The rest were...massacred…” she stopped for a moment, and the rest of the Angels hung their heads along with her. I hung mine as well, for I remembered that day clearly. I of course hadn’t gone out to fight, but I’ll never forget how the survivors looked when they returned from Serat. Bloodied, beaten, faces streaked with raindrops and teardrops alike—they’d left as the proud warriors I’d grown up watching and admiring, like gods to my young eyes. They returned as mortals. I’d never seen them so defeated. I’d never seen anyone as sad or angry as Hes was that night.

“Ey, y’know what, though?” Hes finally spoke up, a spark of optimism returning to her voice, “I hate depressing shit like that. After all, why should we be sad? Sure, we lost a lotta good soldiers and a lot of our progress that day, but think of it this way,” she raised the broken helmet high, and she raised her voice to a proud, orotund yell, “we were beaten bad, but we sure as hell haven’t lost—they aimed to kill us off, but we survived!” with that, the crowd began to clap and cheer, but as Hes waved the helmet around again they quieted down—she wasn’t done yet. 

“And we didn’t just survive,” she continued, lowering her voice just a bit, “we thrived, baby—go ahead, people, look around,” she waved her free hand around the factory floor, and the heads of the crowd began to swivel in all directions, “look at what we’ve got—all that we’ve built since that defeat. Together, we’ve gotten in a years time where it took us ten years to get before—we got the best weapons, the best ships, the best base,” she paused, scanning the faces closest to her. “And most importantly, we got the best people,” without hesitation, she grabbed the nearest guy by the horns and pulled him close, determined grins crossing both of their faces. “We got Devaron’s most loyal sons and daughters—the proud few who’d rather fight for freedom than live under someone else’s boot,” she released the soldier’s horns and turned her attention to another—a younger lady this time—grabbing the back of her neck and pulling her close in as well. “We got with us the girls and boys who’re gonna free this planet—and no one, especially not that wrinkled old nutsack of an emperor and his spineless buckethead cronies, is gonna hold us back!” the crowd continued to cheer and holler, even more so as Hes continued to speak. “If they think they can clip these angels’ wings without a fight, then they got another kriffin’ think comin’!” Even Hes began to cheer along with the crowd, seemingly on the verge of jumping into the fray herself as the soldiers’ chants and shouts grew wilder and wilder. She began to walk back towards the Lady Lucy, one fist pumping in the air, the other clanging the stormtrooper helmet against the skull above her heart, all in harmony with both her steps and the mob’s rampant cries. Even over the clamor, I could make out what they were chanting: “Hes! Hes! Hes! Hes!”, all in one, unified rhythm.

Hes climbed back up on the bomber’s nose, smoothing out her ruffled hair and smiling wide. As the crowd quieted down a little, she continued to speak. “So to summarize, this is what I got to say,” she paused, and the entire room went quiet along with her. “Don’t you ever forget what we’ve lived through, and don’t you ever forget what we’ve lost,” she paused again, letting the statement sink in, “and at the same time, always remember: saving this planet from the Empire is our responsibility, and unless we accomplish that goal, all of those hardships, all of that loss...it’ll all be in vain,” she paused once more, before bursting out in another stentorian shout, “so I say we give it all we got, and show those imperial kriffsticks what Devaron’s made of!” Once again the crowd roared to life, applauding and shouting in agreement. 

“For now, though,” she continued, “I say we celebrate: let us revel in our success, honor our friends’ memories, eat, drink, and be merry—after this year, we all deserve it!” Hes held up her empty hand, and instantly one of the bottles of whiskey from the freighters’ cargo flew through the air and landed in her open palm. With one hand she popped off the cork, and as she raised the bottle high above her head a hundred other hands in the crowd went up, holding everything from bottles and nuna legs to lighters and blasters. “A toast, then,” she began again, “to our friends, our fortune, our fight, and our freedom!”

With a resounding cry of “Hear, hear!”, Hes tipped her bottle back and downed its contents in one swig, before suddenly smashing the bottle on Lucy’s cockpit window and letting out a victorious shout. “Now one ‘a you asshats get some food and some music goin’—let’s rock this bitch!” Her words were met with another chorus of hurrahs and alleluias, and soon the sounds of breaking bottles and blaster shots were added to the clamor. In the fray of it all, I caught Hes jumping off of Lucy and heading back to her quarters out of the corner of my eye. I gently shook Russ’ shoulders, and with a quick, curious glance upward he seemed to remember I was there. He gently set me back down, and with a quick “thank you!” back to him I ran over to the freighter carrying the food.


	2. Alright, Fine, You Can Come

Squeezing my way through the crowd took longer than I’d hoped, but eventually I was able to make it back to Hes’ room, a nuna leg in each hand. I lightly knocked my elbow against the door, and a second later it slid open to reveal Hes. She’d changed out of her armor by the time I’d gotten there, instead donning the Angels’ standard-issue outfit of a black tank top, dark red cargo pants, and combat boots. She stepped forward, looking confusedly above me at first. As she looked down, however, her eyes lit up and a smile spread across her lips. “Oh, hey Cer!” she said, stepping aside, “I was just about to go and find you—c’mon in, man!”

“Hey Hes!” I replied, walking in and sitting on my bunk. Ever since she took me in, Hes and I had shared a room. I think it’s just because she wanted to keep an eye on me—that, or she just liked my company. “So,” I asked, “how’d the raid on the Assarda base go?”

“Oh, man, it was awesome!” she replied, smiling proudly as she took one of the nuna legs from my hand and sat opposite me. “At first it was going all smoothly, right? But then all these stormtroopers came out, and we couldn’t get the freighters in past ‘em! So what’d we do? I had Vonnie fly in real low-like, and me n’ Russ just let loose on ‘em with the turrets—and they just ran off! We were all like ‘pewpewpew!’ and they were like ‘aaahnostop!’—it was hilarious, man. We thought we had ‘em then, but then they came back all sneak-attacky once we got the freighters inside, so we…” as she continued to relay her story and munch heartily on nuna meat, I sat on the edge of the bed, listening like it was the most epic thing I’d ever hear. Part of me knew she was just playing it up to impress me, but another part of me just loved seeing her get so excited—fighting imperials was what Hes lived for, and getting to tell me about it was her and my favorite part of the job.

As her story petered out, she chuckled a bit at my wide-eyed expression. “Yeah, it was cool—but hey, tell me about your day! What all was goin’ on around here?”

“Oh, um...nothing really special,” I tried to think of what I’d done that day, but it all seemed boring in comparison to her exploits. “I got halfway done with that new book, though,” I finally said after thinking on it.

“Hey, that’s awesome!” she replied, tossing her now-bare nuna bone in a waste basket to her right. “How is it?”

“It’s pretty good so far,” I said, tossing mine as well, “not as cool as your adventures, though,”

“Whaaat?” she replied, feigning disbelief, “C’mon Cer, fighting the empire ain’t that cool—it’s mostly just shootin’ stormtroopers, stealin’ supplies, and tryin’ not to die”

“But that all sounds so fun! And not only that, but you get to help people, and they see you as a hero—I just wish I could be apart of that, y’know?”

“Oh kriff,” she said, “You’re gonna ask to come along on one again, aren’t you?” I’d been asking to come along on missions for years, but Hes had said no every time.

“Come on, Hes, I can handle it!” I exclaimed, sitting up to face her, “I mean, you always come back fine, don’t you? How hard can it be?”

“I come back alive because I’ve been fighting in battles all my life—I know what I’m doing,” she reminded me, sounding just a tad more stern, “you don’t have that kind of experience”

She wasn’t wrong. With a disappointed grunt, I mumbled “well how am I ever gonna experience anything if I’m stuck here?” before flopping back down on my bed.

Hes sighed—I wasn’t wrong, either. “Look, Cerate,” she said, taking on a softer tone, “It’s not like I don’t wanna bring you along—in fact, I’ll bet you’re gonna be one of our best men one day,” she paused, trying to find the words, “I just don’t wanna risk you getting hurt—I may sugarcoat it sometimes, but rebelling against the Empire ain’t all fun n’ games. You could get yourself killed if you’re not careful,”

“I can be careful, I promise!” I paused and lowered my voice, trying to sound more persuasive, “Besides, you’re out there risking your life every day—wouldn’t it be fair for me to be out there, too?”

She chuckled a bit. “Yeah, I guess so…” she sat silently for a moment, her hand on her chin, “Okay, tell ya what—I’ll think about it,” she smiled, “but that’s all I’m promising for now”

“Yes!” I cried, shooting my arms victoriously into the air. Hes laughed—I guess she liked seeing me excited as much as I did with her. Though through her good-humoured facade, I could sense her unease; I could tell she still wasn’t fully willing to bring me anywhere near a fight. I was determined to prove her wrong, though—even knowing I could die in the process. I was stupid like that when I was twelve.

“Oh, hey, I just remembered!” Hes suddenly said, standing up and walking towards a backpack by the door, “I got the stuff you wanted while I was out—catch!” she threw the bag to me, and a smile spread across my face as I started digging through its contents: a couple new holobooks, some music discs, and a canister of fresh jogan fruits. I grabbed one out and took a bite, a barely-decipherable “Thanks!” escaping my lips as I chewed.

Hes laughed again, but it was cut short by a knock at the door. She slid it open to reveal Vonnie, her obscured eyes still looking down at her datapad as she walked in. “Ey Hes,” she said, nonchalantly propping herself up against the door frame. She noticed I was there too, and she cast a friendly smile in my direction. I smiled and waved back, but I didn’t say anything—my cheeks were full of jogan again. “Our scouts just reported back from Tikaroo,” Vonnie said, turning back to face Hes.

Immediately, Hes went into all-business mode. “Talk to me” she said flatly as Vonnie handed her the datapad. 

As she scrolled through, Vonnie relayed a truncated version of their findings, and I listened in intently yet covertly. “The city’s crawlin’ with imps,” she explained, picking up Hes’ serious tone, “not clustered or anythin’, just spread thin ‘round town—somethin’ like a bucket or two at every street corner,”

“Nothing we can’t handle,” Hes replied, smiling ever so slightly—knowing her, she was probably looking forward to bashing those stormtroopers’ helmets together. “Any local army guys we’ve gotta worry about?”

“Not a one—by my guess, they’re over in Serat, keepin’ the ‘peace’”

“Great, then we won’t have to watch our aim as much” it was Hes’ rule that no Devaronian soldiers be killed in the Angels’ missions. Even though they served Devaron’s imperial-loyal government, she tried to keep native casualties to a minimum—not only did it help public opinion, but Devaronian lives saved were always a good thing to Hes. “And what about our contact over there? Any word back from him?”

“Kivas is still on board, yeah—even closed up his shop for the weekend, so no one’ll think to look for Lucy there”

“Awesome! Have the supply canisters and the ships prepped by o-five hundred—we’ll start the drop at o-nine, and we’ll rendezvous back here at noon once things have calmed down”

I quickly swallowed the last bit of fruit before speaking up at that last bit. “Drop? You mean we’re bombing Tikaroo?!”

“What? No, no!” Hes exclaimed, laughing embarrassedly, “We’re dropping relief supplies—food, meds, all that stuff. We gotta be in and outta there as fast as we can, though, and Lucy’s the only ship quick enough do it—we just load up her bomb bay with supply canisters, make a pass or two over the city, and we’re home free!”

“If we try and fly Lucy in broad daylight, though, she’ll get shot down before we get within two clicks ‘a Tikaroo,” Vonnie continued, “so we gotta fly her in while it’s still sorta dark and load up the supplies all covert-like—should go pretty smooth”

“Smooth, huh?” I said, smiling coyly, “smooth enough that it could work for a training mission?”

Hes smiled back at me, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. Vonnie looked confused, so Hes filled her in. “Cer’s been asking to come along again—I’m still not sure he’s ready, though”

“Ahh,” Vonnie replied, looking at me inquisitively. After a pause, she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to Hes. “It ain’t my choice, I know, but I say ya let him come—long as he stays outta trouble, an extra body’s never a bad thing. Besides, like he says: it’ll be a good mission for training”

Hes looked at Vonnie, then back at me, seemingly considering her options. Finally, with a sigh and a smile, she spoke. “Alright, fine, you can come—but just this once. We’ll save the harder missions for when you’re a bit older, ‘kay?”

My eyes lit up, and I immediately ran to her, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her into a hug. “Thank you!” I yelled, “I promise, you won’t regret it!”

“Okay, okay, no need to get sappy with me,” Hes laughed, gently returning the embrace. There was still a hint of hesitation in her voice, but I felt like she was finally warming up to the idea. Vonnie’s endorsement certainly helped. “Just stay safe, stay smart, and you’ll do just fine—got that, soldier?”

“Yes, sir!” I replied, putting my hand to my forehead in a faux-salute. I broke into excited giggling immediately after, though.

“Well ey, if we’re all done talkin’ mission stuffs,” Vonnie interrupted, “The boys wanted me to drag ya out to the party—you’re the one we’re wantin’ to celebrate, after all,” she smiled wide, and her voice took on a high, sing-songy tone, “we even got the karaoke machine set up!”

“Oh, hell yeah!” Hes shouted, high-fiveing Vonnie excitedly. “Cer,” she said, turning back to me, “You wanna come party, too? If you’re old enough to fight the Empire, you might just be old enough for a drink or two!”

I laughed at the thought of it, but in truth I’d never really liked alcohol; I tried it once, and it just sorta tasted like soggy, stale bread to me. “Nah, I’ll just hang out here—you go have fun!”

“Alright, we’ll catch ya later!” Hes said, closing the door behind her and Vonnie. 

Suddenly, I was alone again. The room was quiet, save for the distant echo of celebrating soldiers outside. For a minute I just sat on the bed, but as the realization set in that I was finally going to be apart of the Angels, my face lit up and I jumped into the air, shouting victoriously to no one at all. As I calmed down, I let myself fall back onto my bunk, still smiling and laughing. Cerate Evis: freedom fighter. With a sigh, I closed my eyes and imagined it: my future. I’d fight with Hes and the Angels, and together we’d liberate Devaron and defeat the Empire once and for all. I was gonna be a hero—of that, I was more sure than anything else.

Right then, though, I was still just a kid in a bed. With a sigh I accepted this, and I decided thinking about it as much as I was would only make the hours crawl by slower. So instead, I pulled out one of the new holobooks from the backpack next to me, clicked its blue screen on, and began to read.


	3. They Would've Loved You, Cer

After what was definitely more than a few hours, I finally finished the last page of the holobook. It was another adventure epic—this time about a great warrior who, after her war is won, drifts around the galaxy in search of a purpose, and identity, and a home. With a contented sigh, I flicked its screen off and sunk down into my bed, reflecting silently on the story. I began to think about what its message could be, but my thinking was cut short pretty quickly—as soon as I set the book on my nightstand, the room’s door slid open and Hes stumbled in.

“Whoo!” she cried, still very much in a party mood, “What a kriffin’ night, baby!” even from the other end of the room, I could smell the alcohol on her breath. She wasn’t totally drunk, though—tipsy, definitely, but still seemingly competent. Hes was no lightweight to begin with, but coupled with Devaronians’ natural resistance to alcohol, getting her even a little drunk was no easy task. She plopped happily onto her bunk after making her way across the room, still laughing as she kicked off her boots and rolled over onto her stomach. “Man, Cer, you missed out—we got that good Assarda booze n’ everything,”

I chuckled a bit—everyone always said Assardans made the best liquor on Devaron, but it all just tasted like bread water to me. “Whatever, I was busy reading these new books anyways” I replied, gesturing to the backpack. “Glad you guys had fun, though!”

“Pfft, nerd,” Hes smiled jokingly—it was actually her who was always urging me to read. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, she just wanted me to learn as much as I could; she couldn’t exactly send me to an actual school, so books were the next best option. “How far’d you get?”

“I got through a whole book!” I replied proudly, “The one about the warrior lady”

“Damn kid, you’re gettin’ quick with those!” she exclaimed, equally as proud. “I hope you’re not already burnt out on stories, though, ‘cause it’s bedtime,”

She was right—it was already midnight, which meant it was time for one of Hes’s famous bedtime stories. “C’mon Hes,” I replied, already getting under my blankets, “I’m almost thirteen; technically a teen! Don’t you think I’m getting old for bedtime stories?” I totally wasn’t—I loved Hes’s stories, but I wasn’t about to admit that.

“Cer, you’re already old enough to be fighting with the Angels—you’re growing up way too fast for me,” she said, smiling, “Let me at least keep you as a kid for this, okay?” I smiled and nodded back to her—though Hes played a lot of things up and acted sarcastic for laughs, I could tell she meant that. There were some things you could just tell she really meant. “Now,” she continued, “What story do you wanna hear tonight?”

I laid silently for a little while, recalling the hundreds of stories Hes had told me over the years, trying to think of ones I hadn’t heard fully or would love to hear again. “How about...your favorite battle from the clone wars?”

“Hmm...nah, nope, let’s not” Hes really didn’t like talking about her life during the clone wars. All she’d tell me is that she and her friends fought alongside the Republic, but they went their separate ways after it became the Empire. I still wanted to know about it, though—I tried to think of times she’d mentioned that might reveal some stuff, but none came to mind.

Finally, I decided on a topic—one I’d heard about more than any other, but one I loved above all. “Can you tell me more about mom and dad?”

Hes got a lot more alert at their mention. “Oh, man, I never get tired ‘a talking about them,” she laughed, kicking her feet up and crossing her arms behind her head, all while staring blissfully up at the ceiling. “Anva and Naj were the best: great warriors, inspiring leaders, role models—they used to say they were about the strongest pair ‘a Zabraks this side ‘a Iridonia,”

Oh, yeah, I don’t think I’ve talked about that yet. Unlike the other Angels, I wasn’t a Devaronian, per se. I’m a Zabrak: half Iridonian on my mom’s side, half Dathomirian on my dad’s. Most people didn’t seem to mind, though. I mean, someone called me “tatt-brat” once—Hes threatened to castrate him for it, that’s another long story—but besides that I like think I fit in fairly well. To most, the fact that I have at least two horns and want a free Devaron is enough.

“Even though she was barely eighteen,” Hes continued, more reminiscing than telling a story, “Anva led the Republic army to some of its greatest victories, everywhere from the siege of Bestine to the battle of Ord Janon. And Naj,” she laughed to herself, seemingly remembering something about my dad, “Naj wasn’t much of a strategist, but boy could he fight,” she talked about their adventures for good ten more minutes, everything about battles they fought together to especially eventful trips to the nearest Biscuit Baron chain. I was enjoying the stories, but they weren’t what I wanted to hear about right then.

“Hes, c’mon, I already know mom and dad could fight,” I piped up, interrupting her trip down memory lane. “What were they actually like? You know, off the battlefield?”

Hes smiled, and she once more picked up her nostalgic tone. “They were the greatest friends I could’ve asked for—I see a lot ‘a them in you, actually,”

I’d been starting to doze off as she spoke, but at this I instantly perked up. “Really?”

“Mhm,” Hes replied, “You’ve got your mom’s moxie; all her smarts, her wit, all her drive and determination—you got the soul of a revolutionary, just like her,”

“Wow,” I said, though it came out as more of a yawn. “What about dad? Am I like him?”

Hes chuckled. “You’re definitely as sweet as he was, and definitely as cute—’bout as big of a softy, too,”

“Wait, what? You were just saying he was a great warrior!”

“He was! Just because someone can fight doesn’t mean they’re naturally some emotionless badass—I mean, look at me, some nights I’m fightin’ the Empire and some nights I’m watchin’ holo-dramas in my pajamas” We both stopped to have a laugh at that one. I once caught Hes watching Cataclysm Prism 4 at two in the morning—totally unironically, I might add—and I haven’t let her live it down since. It became sort of an inside joke between us; she still maintains that it’s good, but I and the rest of the galaxy disagree.

As our laughter subsided, we both went silent for a few moments. I could tell Hes was just falling asleep, but for me it was all the thoughts swirling in my tired mind. Finally, I asked the biggest question I had. “Hey Hes?” I said, quieter than before.

“Hm...yeah?” she replied groggily, evidently half-asleep already.

“Do you think mom and dad would’ve liked me?” I asked. “Like, if they could have met me now?” I hadn’t seen my parents since I was four years old. They died—and as the story went, they died protecting me. A group of slavers were contracted to find a Zabrak child for one of their clients, and so they came after me. My mom held them off and was killed in the fight, allowing my dad to escape with me. He came to Devaron immediately after and handed me off to Hes, then he left to try and lead the slavers away. The plan was for him to come back and get me once he lost them—and if he didn’t come back in three rotations, he told Hes to assume the worst. He never came back. So, Hes decided to take me in—even then, the Angels had plenty of food, water, medicine, and protection, so she figured I’d be safest with her. I’m alive now, so I guess she made the right choice. To be honest, I don’t even fully remember mom and dad—I just get little flashes of memories once in a while. Sometimes it’s being held by dad. Other times it’s mom sitting with me, trying to teach me to talk. Still, even though I barely remembered them, I still missed them a lot—is that normal? I dunno.

Finally, after a long pause, Hes answered my question. “They would’ve loved you, Cer,” she said, the truth in her voice evident even through her sleepiness, “They loved you then, and they’d love you now”

I smiled. “Thanks, Hes.”

“Mhm…” she barely whispered before finally drifting off to sleep. With a final yawn, I began to do the same. As I snuggled deeper under my covers, my mind continued to wander, yet with each passing moment my thoughts faded into sleepy fuzziness. My final thoughts before I drifted off were of the next day’s mission—of how excited I was for it. Of how it’d finally be my chance to become a great soldier and leader, just like mom and dad.

If only I could’ve known what I was really stepping into.


	4. We Got A New Angel

“Rise n’ shine, kiddo!”

The command, coupled with the soft thump of a finger flicking my forehead, quickly shook me awake. My eyes blinked open, just in time to see Hes’ smiling face above me. She was already dressed in her armor, meaning either she’d gotten an early start or I’d slept in—probably both. “Today’s gonna be a long day,” she continued, “I’d hate for you to sleep through it,”

“Oh, right, yeah!” I jumped out of bed and ran towards my closet to get dressed, throwing everything this way and that in search of a clean outfit. In my haste, however, I ended up getting my shirt caught on my horns, and as I struggled to free myself I stumbled and fell into the pile of clothes next to me.

Hes laughed, stepping towards me. “Chill, kid, we still got thirty minutes before we gotta leave, no need to rush” she helped me pull the shirt down to my shoulders as she spoke, and I smiled awkwardly as my head popped into view . “Oh, actually, that reminds me,” she turned to grab something off her bed—I couldn’t quite see what from where I was sitting. She tossed it to me, and I caught it just as it started to unfurl. After a bit of inspection, I held it out in front of me: a hooded poncho, pitch black and made of thick nerf wool, with two holes cut in the hood for horns. “I thought it might help you blend in a bit,” Hes continued, “No offense, but you stick out like a sore thumb, ‘specially next to other Devos,”

“Yeah, I know, I getcha” I was well aware of how noticeable I was—to be honest, I’ve always been a little self-conscious about it. You would be, too, if people were staring at your tattoos wherever you went. “Aren’t cloaks usually more conspicuous, though?”

“Maybe,” Hes said nonchalantly as she loaded her blaster rifle, “But it makes you harder to identify, too—there’s probably a thousand hooded kids on Devaron, but I’ll bet you’re one ‘a the only ‘braks,”

“Oh yeah, true,” I concurred, slipping the poncho over my head and pulling the hood back. As I slipped on my boots, I watched inquisitively as Hes slipped two extra ammo clips into her belt and slung her rifle over her shoulder. “Do I get a blaster, too?”

Hes smiled. “We’ll see what the mission demands,” she joked, picking up her helmet and holding it at her side. “Alright, eat that last jogan and we’ll head out—just because you’re a soldier now doesn’t mean you’re too good for breakfast,” I smiled and nodded, and as I grabbed the last jogan I followed Hes out the door.

As we walked out, I was immediately bombarded by sights and sound. All around me, soldiers hustled about, readying their ships and weapons for the coming fight. Hes greeted each of them as we walked, high-fiving outstretched hands and bellowing words of encouragement to every group we passed. It was incredible; I'd watched the Angels prep for missions a thousand times before, but I always had to watch from the rafters before. Now, I was finally walking among them—I was finally part of the team. After a moment or two, Hes and I reached the center of the factory floor, where a large holoprojector had been set up for the mission briefing. The Angels’ other commanders were already waiting around the projector, along with a few other essential personnel. They chatted idly among themselves at first, but as they saw Hes walk in all eyes went to her.

“Alright people, y’all ready to do this?” she shouted, and everyone clapped and cheered in response. “Hell yeah!” she yelled back, laughing heartily, “‘kay, let’s run through the plan one more time—Von, you’re up,”

Vonnie nodded and started up the holo-jector. The picture flickered, and a neon green, three-dimensional map of Tikaroo materialized from the static, showing all the city’s streets and buildings in detail. She pressed another button, and clusters of small red blips began to appear on the map as well. “Alright, so this is what we gotta deal with,” she began, her voice even more stern than usual, “we got troopers stationed at every crosswalk, ‘bout two or three to each. That alone ain’t too much to worry about, but new intel says there’s a good chance they’ll have ITTs stationed here, here, and here,” she pointed to the city’s south, east, and west entrances, each marked by a larger red blip than the others.

“Not a problem, Von,” Russoc chimed in, “Me and my boys can take those out easy—we’ve been waiting to blow something up all week,” he laughed heartily, almost maliciously as he said the last bit, and a few soldiers behind him laughed along. He wasn’t kidding, either. Russ was the commander in charge of weapons, ammo, and explosives—not to mention the dozen or so trigger-happy soldiers under his command. That isn’t to say he wasn’t just as trigger-happy, though—he just had the military experience and expertise to back it up. I know I said he was the sweetest soldier the Angels had, but I’d never seen someone get so excited from the idea of killing stormtroopers.

“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Vonnie replied, a hint of a smile crossing her face, “it’s what they’ll do to Lucy that’s got me worried—if they see her flyin’ in, they’ll be on her before we even get close. That wasn’t a problem when it was just troopers, but I could see the cannons on them transports doin’ some damage,”

“So we upgrade her shields real fast before we go? Sounds doable,” it was Vrindath Chask who spoke that time—he was the Angels’ chief mechanic, so naturally his solution to things is to simply “build it better”.

“No, no...well yeah, actually, do that too, just in case,” Vonnie replied, “the problem ain’t that Lucy won’t hold, it’s that we ain’t gonna be able to get her off the ground again. If they see us landing at Kivas’ place, they’ll have it surrounded before we can even get the supplies loaded,”

“So what you’re sayin’ is we need to distract and scatter ‘em,” Hes smiled, evidently catching on to the plan.

“Bingo,” Vonnie pressed another button on the projector, and several other violet blips appeared on the map. “So here’s what I got in mind,” she continued, with each of the blips moving accordingly, “we get four teams together—let’s go with Russoc’s, Vrindath’s, Tel’s, and Hes’. The first three’ll take care of the transports at the city gates; toy with ‘em, shoot at ‘em, have ‘em follow ya into the jungle, I don’t care whatcha do—just keep their attention off the city. Then, once ya got ‘em distracted, Hes’ team’ll take the main two streets—focus on the north-south stretch, but hold off any troops from the east-west too. Once you clear a path, I’ll fly Lucy in over the jungle and land her in Kivas’ shop. From there, we’ll rendezvous with Jelmoc, Kivas, and the supply crew, load Lucy up, and make our passes over the city as fast as possible—after that, it’s just a matter ‘a scatterin’ and makin’ it back here, and we’re home free”

“Brilliant as always, Vonnie D,” Hes said, playfully slapping her on the back. “Alright people, we leave in ten, so let’s get to work. Russ, you n’ your team load up all the guns and speeders you can—you and the others’ll need ‘em to keep ahead ‘a the transports. Vrin, you n’ Gemre get to work on Lucy’s shields—and maybe tune up her engines too, if you got time. Von, have your guys prep the gunships for evac—and maybe a couple starfighters, too, in case things get hairy,” she turned to address the entire group, raising her voice to get their attention. “As for everyone else, you already know whose team you’re with, so get to your stations—let’s get in there, get this done right, and get these people the help they need!”

Everyone cheered and clapped in response, myself included. As I did, Hes seemed to remember I was next to her. “Wait, wait, I forgot to mention one thing!” she interjected just as everyone was getting up. Everyone turned to her, and she quickly picked me up and set me on her shoulder. All eyes were instantly on me. I could feel my cheeks flushing from all the attention, but my embarrassment made no difference to Hes. “You all know Cer, yeah?” she asked the crowd, and everyone nodded and muttered curiously in response. One or two people even waved to me, and with a nervous smile I waved back. “What you might also know”, Hes continued, “is that Cer’s the Angels’ biggest fan—he loves hearing our stories, he treats us all like his heroes, and he’s been asking to join us since before he was knee-high,” some chuckled at the last bit, probably remembering all the times I’d wanted to come along—I’d definitely asked most of them to sneak me onto the battlefield at least once. Unfortunately, although I think most of them would’ve liked to bring me along, they feared Hes’ wrath too much to risk it.

“Well,” Hes continued, “The kid finally convinced me to let him come on this one op, maybe more if he proves himself—meaning,” she suddenly lifted me clear off her shoulders, holding me up for everyone to see, “We got a new Angel!” Without hesitation everyone began to applaud and cheer, and even though all the attention had me embarrassed, I felt an excited grin crossing my blushing face. It was the happiest I’d ever felt in all my twelve years—I probably would’ve started crying if Hes had kept me up there any longer.

Thankfully, she didn’t. “That said,” she began again, setting me down at her side, “I’d hate for Cer’s first op to be his last—so know this. If anything happens to him, and there’s anything you could’ve done to stop it...then there will be hell to pay,” What followed was a silence more dead than any I’d ever known before or since. It was definitely the most fear-stricken, too—I don’t think anyone wanted to find out what would happen if I got hurt on their watch. Finally, the silence was broken by the clap of Hes’ hands. “Right then, let’s get to work!” she smiled, the enthusiasm in her voice contrasting starkly with the preceding threat. Everyone got up to tend to their duties after a moment, and as they went to their stations I followed Hes over to ours.

We made our way towards the back of the factory, to the Lady Lucy’s landing pad. Even seeing her felt different that day—Hes had let me see her up close tons of times before, but somehow knowing I’d actually get to fly into battle really made me appreciate her majesty, not to mention her sheer size. As we rounded the ship’s nose, I saw two figures working on different parts of her—I recognized Vrindath messing with the shield generator up top, while the other was still obscured behind Lucy’s rightmost engine. As we came up to the ship, however, a high-pitched, jovial voice gave me my answer.

“Oh, hey Hes!” from behind the engine, Gemre G’vund’s grease-stained face popped up, a smile shining through the grime. He hopped down from the engine and walked towards Hes and I, pushing up his soot-stained goggles as he continued to speak. “I’m just finishing up the engines now—port side’s all good, but the main starboard one’s giving me a little trouble, what with her taking that hit yesterday. She’ll still fly, though, just be careful with hard left turns,”

“I’ll have Vonnie keep the fancy flying to a minimum—oh hey, by the way, guess who finally convinced me to let him come along,” Hes smiled, playfully patting me on the shoulder.

“No shit?” Gemre said, beginning to smile at me as well, “That’s awesome! Welcome to the team, man!” He held his hand out for a high-five, and I happily jumped to meet it.

“I’m glad you think so,” Hes laughed, “‘cause I’m putting you and Vonnie in charge of him. Don’t let him outta your sight, don’t let him off the ship, and don’t let him get hurt. Got it?” Gemre nodded in agreement, but I was less enthused. Hes cut me off before I could protest, though. “What, did you think I was gonna put ya on the front lines right away? Nah man, you gotta do at least one ride-along first, just like everyone else,”

“Alright, fine,” I pouted. Hes was right; every new recruit I’d met said they had to sit back and watch the pros before they could fight for themselves. Training new recruits thoroughly took more time and skill than Hes had handy back then, so she figured showing them some action would be the best way to weed out those who couldn’t take it and envigorate those who could. I guess I shouldn’t have expected any special treatment—Hes is a fair leader, in every sense of the word.

“Atta’ boy,” Hes smiled, reaching down and tussling my hair playfully. From the other side of the base I heard Vonnie yell for Hes, and she yelled back that she’d be there in a second before turning back to me and Gemre. “Okay, yeah, finish up those engines, Gem, we’re leavin’ in five—I’ll be back in a sec,” she started to walk away, but then she turned back once more. “Oh, and get Oh-Ar ready to go, too!” 

“Oh yeah, Gemre, how is Oh-Ar doing?” I said as Hes walked away, remembering the joint project he and I had going.

“Ask him yourself,” Gemre said, already climbing back onto Lucy’s engine, “Hey, Oh-Ar, c’mere!”

From the other side of the ship, I began to hear heavy, clanging footsteps making their way towards us. After a second, our project came into view—0R-D3, in all his mechanical glory. He was about the biggest droid I’d ever seen, both with his height and his sheer mass, and this stature coupled with his stiff limbs, fiery orange optical sensors, huge welded-on horns, and the violet-and-gold Angels’ emblem on his chest would have led anyone else to be intimidated by him. Not me, though—I knew full well that Oh-Ar wasn’t anyone to be feared.

“Hey buddy!” I said, walking up to Oh-Ar. He looked down at me quizzically, cocking his head to one side as if studying my appearance as I’d studied his. His memory wasn’t great, so he tended to have to really look at people to recognize them. “How you been, big guy?” Suddenly, he emitted a harsh, indecipherable noise from his faceplate—he was trying to talk. Gently, I touched my hand to his chest and shook my head, and he stopped. Instead, he held up both of his hands, each one as big as my whole torso, and signed out what he wanted to say: “Oh-Ar good. Happy”

“Very good!” I replied, signing the words as I spoke them. Me and Gemre taught Oh-Ar to use sign language instead of his voice. He was built with a broken vocabulator we found in a pile of cheap scrap, and thus he couldn’t talk or form sentences well. In fact, pretty much everything about Oh-Ar was either broken or only half-working—Gemre built him and I programmed him, even though neither of us had much experience with building or programming droids at the time. We just thought it would be a fun project, y’know? Really, it was a miracle he worked at all—but hey, I had fun working with him, so I just treated him like a work in progress.

“He’s been all excited for the mission since last night,” Gemre chimed in, still working on the engine, “you’re excited to help out Tikaroo, right Oh-Ar?” sure enough, Oh-Ar signed the words “Oh-Ar give help. Make happy. Oh-Ar good” when I turned back to him. I didn’t remember programming him with any sort of empathy protocol or subroutine, but I was happy he’d picked one up.

“If you boys’re all done playin’ with your droid, then I say we get to work,” The three of us turned to see Vonnie, walking up to us with her arms crossed in her usual, unimpressed manner. Hes and her team of soldiers followed behind her, each of them armed to the teeth with blasters, rifles, or really any weapon that they could get their hands on—I remember one guy was even carrying a shovel. I remember because the other guys used to call him “The Grave Digger”. That said, Hes’ team may not have been the most polished troupe, but they were definitely the most effective, as I would soon learn. “Gem, Vrin,” Vonnie continued, calling up to both of the mechanics, “Everything in working order?”

“Shields are a-go,” Vrindath said, hopping down from the ship and walking off to join his own team of soldiers.

“Engines are a-go,” Gemre echoed, wiping the grime from his face as he too jumped down.

“Nice, nice,” Vonnie replied, turning back to Hes. “We ready to head out, then?”

“Let’s do it,” Hes smiled wide as she turned to face the rest of the base. “Alight, boys n’ girls, it’s showtime! Let’s head out!” she yelled, her voice echoing off the factory’s walls. A chorus of shouts followed her words, and as they petered out I heard the roar of speeders’ and starships’ engines rise to take their place. The massive doors at the far end of the factory began to slowly slide open, and through the widening crack between them the orange light of the rising sun poured through. My eyes squinted as I looked out onto the horizon—it hurt to look, but I looked anyway. My first day as an Angel was dawning—and man, what a sight it was 

“Ey, Cer, you comin’?” I heard Gemre call from behind, and I turned to see him and the others boarding onto Lucy through her rear cargo hold. I rubbed my eyes and smiled, remembering the mission at hand. I ran over to join them, coming aboard just as Lucy’s engines roared to life like the others’. The ramp closed behind me as I walked inside, and I couldn’t help but stare with wonder at the room before me. The members of Hes’ team sat back in the rear cargo hold with me, chatting excitedly amongst themselves about who would have this battle’s highest kill count. Gemre sat with Oh-Ar away from the others, performing a few final pre-flight checks and making sure Oh-Ar didn’t touch anything he wasn’t supposed to. I was about to take my place within arm’s reach of Gemre, as per Hes’ instructions, when suddenly, rather abruptly, Vonnie decided to take off. Before I could react, the ship jerked forward and I felt myself tumbling backwards, hitting the rear ramp with an audible thud. Everyone went quiet as I got up—by my guess they were thinking that, if I’d gotten hurt before the mission even started, Hes would lose it. I was fine, of course, just a little surprised is all. I stood up and laughed as the ship leveled out, and with a sigh of relief everyone laughed along with me.

With that, I took my seat close-ish to the others, buckling my seat belt in case of any more unexpected turbulence. As the soldiers continued their conversations, I turned to look out the nearest viewport, watching idly as the dense green jungle whizzed by beneath us. Strangely, though, I caught a glimpse of an irregularity in the treeline. I only got to see it for a second, but it definitely wasn’t a tree. It looked more like a...a spire, maybe?

And then, almost as soon as I’d seen it, I began to hear it too. Call me crazy, but it felt like the thing was...calling out to me.


	5. The Archangel

“Cer? Cer!”

All at once, the calling stopped. I blinked once or twice before looking back up Gemre, in an effort to clear my head—I must’ve spaced out for a minute there. “You still with us, man?” he continued, “We’re gonna be coming up on Tikaroo in a second here. Hes says she wants you up in the cockpit with Vonnie—says you’ll get the best view there,”

“Oh, yeah, sure!” I smiled, quickly unbuckling my seatbelt and running up towards the cockpit. I nearly tripped coming off the ladder, but Hes grabbed me by the back of my poncho just before I fell, lifting me to my feet with a smile. Silently, she gestured to the cockpit’s front viewport, and with a small “whoah” escaping my lips I watched as Tikaroo came into view. The sun had just risen over the horizon, and it seemed as though the entire city was bathed in a heavenly glow. 

Actually, “city” may have been too generous a term, in hindsight. Tikaroo was little more than a collection of meager, ramshackle homes and businesses set along two main streets—a far cry from Devaron’s more polished metropoles, like Montellian Serat or Assarda. From what I knew of the town’s history, it had once been host to a sulfur mining operation before the end of the clone wars, but ever since the mine started to dry up and become unprofitable for the planet’s government and the Empire, the city and its people fell on hard times. Food and supply rations had all but stopped coming, and whatever money they made from the mine was so heavily taxed that they barely got a credit of it. The people of Tikaroo were in dire straits, and they desperately needed help—and that’s exactly where the Angels would come in.

With a soft thud, the Lady Lucy touched down outside of Tikaroo’s north entrance, just far enough away that it was all but hidden by the thick jungle brush. Vonnie shut off the engines, and as their low hum dissipated, silence filled the air. I started to say something after a minute, but Hes stopped me before I could. Instead, she motioned for me to look out the cockpit’s front viewport, as I realized she and Vonnie had been doing before. I watched for a moment in silence, then suddenly, I saw what we were watching for. From the city’s other three gates, I saw enormous plumes of smoke and fire erupt from seemingly nowhere. Then, I began to hear sounds of battle: stormtrooper protocol jargon, blaster fire, the high-pitched purr of speeder engines, and even a voice or two I recognized. The others had set their parts of the plan in motion.

“Welp, that’s our cue,” Hes stood up and nodded to Vonnie, earning a nod from her in return. Vonnie pressed a button on the console in front of her, and I heard the ship’s rear hatch begin to open. Hes’ squad in the back began to stir, and as I looked back I saw them readying their weapons and filing out of the ship. Hes moved to join them, but she quickly remembered me and turned back to Vonnie and I first. “Stay low, stay hidden, and be ready to move on my mark,” Hes ordered, more business-like than usual, “I wanna get this done as quickly n’ painlessly as possible,”

“Yessir,” Vonnie reclined in her seat, amplifying the hint of sarcasm in her words. She always reacted like that when Hes gave orders—she always followed them, sure, but she made it clear that she did so at her own leisure. 

Hes smirked, but her expression softened as she turned to me. I guess I looked worried—I’ll admit, seeing those explosions did freak me out at the time. “I’ll be back soon, ‘kay?” she knelt down in front of me, playfully tussling my short hair. “Vonnie’ll keep our comm channel open—it’ll be like you’re right there with us,”

“Okay.” I smiled, and Hes smiled back. She stood up and walked out of the cockpit, her helmet in one hand and her rifle in the other. I shouted out a final “Good luck!” to her as she hopped down from the balcony, and she paused only briefly to wave back to me before walking out through the rear hatch. With Hes out of sight, I turned and sat in her seat. My feet barely touched the ground when I did, though, so I resigned myself to tucking my legs up to my chest and resting my head on my knees. 

“Don’t worry, kid, she’ll be fine,” Vonnie suddenly said, breaking the silence. I guess I still looked worried. “I’ve seen her in action a hundred times now, on missions a hundred times worse—this ain’t nothin’,”

“Yeah, Cer, she’s got this,” Gemre chimed in, his voice echoing off the walls of the cargo hold. I heard Oh-Ar try to say something too, but it again came out as garbled static. It was nice of him and the others to try and cheer me up, though.

“Dhaalgondt to Chaddic, come in Chaddic,” suddenly, I heard a voice I recognized as Russoc’s through a haze of static, and I looked over to see Vonnie fiddling with the ship’s radio. “We blew the transports and we have the Imps trailing us now—you’re go to move down the main street,”

“Copy that, Russ, we’re movin’ in now,” Hes said, her voice coming in slightly clearer than his. Sure enough, I looked out through the front viewport and I saw Hes’ squad running into the city, with Hes herself leading the charge. Halfway to the intersection of the two main streets, Hes gestured to her left and right, and instantly her squad fanned out into the surrounding side streets and alleyways. Hes continued running forward alone, eventually stopping and putting two fingers up to one of the side panels on her helmet. “Chaddic to D’ruexieq,” I heard her speak through the radio, her confident tone evident even through the static. How she was able to pronounce Vonnie’s last name so easily, I'll never know. “You might wanna get Lucy started now—I don’t see any bucketheads out n’ about, so it’s probably safe to—”

“Freeze!” That time, it was a voice I didn’t recognize. I looked out the viewport, and to my horror I saw Hes surrounded by five stormtroopers, their weapons all raised and trained on her. I started to yell out her name, but Vonnie shushed me before I could. Quickly, she and I ducked behind the ship’s console, but curiosity got the better of us and we both peeked out to see what would happen. “Drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head—now!” To my surprise, Hes did as the trooper commanded, setting her rifle on the ground and stepping away from it slowly.

“Mornin’, boys,” Hes remarked, unperturbed despite her position, “Listen, I love the attention, really I do—but if you don’t mind, I got places to be, people to help, y’all know how it is,”

“You can dispense with the pleasantries, rebel,” the trooper said matter-of-factly. He pressed a panel on his own helmet, evidently contacting a superior. “DS-707 to base, we have captured the Archangel and we will be bringing her in within the—”

“Archangel?” Hes interrupted, cutting the trooper off before he could finish, “Is that what y’all call me?” she laughed, causing the troopers around her to ready their weapons reflexively, “Damn, that sounds nice—y’all mind if I steal that?”

“You won’t be stealing anything, you rebel scum,” the trooper said, training his weapon on Hes once more, “Not anymore. For your crimes, you will be imprisoned, tried, and executed.”

“Oh, is that right?” Hes said, surreptitiously moving her hands down her back. I moved in for a closer look, just in time to see her brush her ponytail out of the way and reveal her ace in the hole. Clipped to Hes’ back were a pair of collapsible metal tonfas: her weapons of choice if and when blasters failed her. I’d seen her practicing with them once or twice before, but I’d never gotten to see them in action—once again, I thought, this would be a day for firsts. “Well, sorry to disappoint, boys,” Hes continued, grabbing both of the tonfas by their shorter handles, “but like I said—I got places to be,”

In one swift motion, Hes swung her tonfas forward and rushed the trooper in front of her, smacking him in the head with an audible thwack. He was out cold instantly, but rather than let him fall Hes stepped behind him and held him by the neck with the long end of her tonfa, using him as a meat shield against the sudden flurry of blaster fire from the other troopers. Once they stopped, she grabbed the lifeless trooper’s arm and swung him around into the two others to her right, sending all three tumbling to the ground. One of the troopers to her left tried to rush her, but Hes was ready for him. Quickly, she wheeled around and struck one of her tonfa against his left knee, and as he doubled over in pain she spun the tonfa around and jabbed the faceplate of his helmet, knocking him out as well. With a contented sigh, she spun both tonfa around so they were flush with her forearms, cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders. Suddenly, she turned her head to the last remaining trooper, standing in shock with his blaster raised in his shaking hands. All Hes had to do was utter a simple “Boo!”, and instantly the trooper dropped his weapon and ran off screaming. Hes chuckled as he fled, re-sheathing her tonfa and slinging her rifle back over her shoulder. With one hand she smoothed out her ponytail, and with the other she set two fingers to the panel on the side of her helmet.

“As I was saying, Von,” Hes continued, seemingly unphased by the whole ordeal, “It’s probably safe to bring Lucy into Kivas’ place now—this stretch looks just about clear. Me n’ my team’ll meet you there,”

“Copy that,” Vonnie replied, smiling, “We’re firing up the engines now,”

“By the way, Vonnie,” Hes said, though at first I could barely hear her over the engines, “How’s ‘Archangel’ sound for a codename?”

Vonnie chuckled at the thought of it. “Bit of an ego-stroke, if ya ask me,”

“Pfft, whatever, I think I earned it—right, Cer?”

“Yeah!” I yelled, leaning closer into the ship’s radio, “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! You were all like ‘wham!’ and they were all like ‘aah!’—and you scared that last one so much he just ran away!” I unknowingly acted out each of the actions as I recounted them, eliciting a laugh or two from Vonnie, “Where’d you even learn to fight like that?”

“That, uh…” she paused, thinking, “That’s a long story—okay, I gotta go, I’ll meet you guys at Kivas’!” the radio cut out just as she finished, and with a happy sigh I sat back in my seat. Vonnie smiled at me, and with the push of a lever she began flying Lucy towards Kivas’ shop in the center of Tikaroo.


	6. Karabast!

“This is the last of ‘em!” 

I looked back as Vonnie called out toward Hes and I, just in time to see her and Gemre leading Oh-Ar onto the Lady Lucy. In his giant arms, he carried easily a dozen supply canisters—no easy feat, as when I tried to carry one myself I could barely lift it at all. I then understood the reason we brought him along—well, one of the two reasons. I would learn the other soon enough.

“Good.” a gruff, heavily-accented voice called back. “The sooner I get you people out of here, the better.” I turned to see a stocky, middle-aged man walking towards Hes and I, his muscular arms crossed and his brow furrowed in apparent disdain. A young girl—his daughter, I assumed—walked a short distance behind him, her less imposing stature and curious expression contrasting starkly with his stern demeanor. I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what I looked like next to Hes.

In spite of the man’s harsh attitude, Hes greeted him kindly. “We really can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done, Kivas.” she began. “Your help puts us one step closer to freeing Devaron.” She reached out her hand for a handshake, but Kivas didn’t take it.

“I help because I owe you a favor—nothing more.” Kivas snarled back, seemingly offended by Hes’ words. “The way I am seeing it, you rebels are no more a help to Devaron than the Empire.”

“Well...I’m sorry you feel that way.” Hes said, subtly hiding her anger. I could tell she wanted to launch into all the reasons he was wrong, but for the sake of time and the mission, she contained herself. As she and Kivas continued to talk, I caught the girl next to him looking me over. She didn’t say anything, she just studied me; whether she was curious about my appearance or my role in all this, I never knew. Since Hes was being nice to Kivas, I thought it right to be nice to the girl as well. I smiled and waved to her, and after a second she did the same to me.

“Farnay!” Kivas shouted, pulling the girl away from me and Hes. He knelt down and began scolding her in Devaronese, probably so I couldn’t understand what he was saying. Little did he know, Devaronese is a second language to me. From what I caught, he was telling her to stay away from us rebels—we were nothing but trouble, he said. I was startled to hear this coming from a citizen of Devaron, but when I looked up at Hes she seemed to be unsurprised, if a little irked. Finally, Kivas told Farnay to run along, and she disappeared into the shop’s office. He turned back to Hes and I, looking even more stern than before. “Our business is complete, no?”

Hes looked back towards the Lady Lucy, just in time to see Vonnie, Gemre, and Oh-Ar loading the last of the supplies into the ship’s bomb bay. “Looks like it.”

“Good.” Kivas turned and walked away, pausing very briefly to add a final thought before leaving as Farnay had. “If anyone asks, we never met.”

“Agreed.” Hes sighed, turning to me. “C’mon, Cer, let’s go.”

“What’s his problem?” I asked as we walked toward the Lady Lucy, still running through what Kivas had said in my mind. “Why would we just as bad as the Empire? They’re the bad guys, right?”

“They are.” Hes answered, slowly losing her kind tone in favor of a more prideful one. “The Empire strangles the life out of every planet it meets, stripping away its people’s freedoms and rights in the name of order. Problem is, not everyone on Devaron is against that. Some people—our government included—have resigned themselves to giving those things up for peace, even if it’s peace on the Empire’s terms.”

“But why—” my voice was cut off by the Lady Lucy’s rear hatch closing behind us, its loud clang drowning out my words. “Why wouldn’t they just fight back, like we do?”

Hes shrugged. “They don’t wanna risk making things worse for themselves, I guess—and I guess when they see us fighting back, they worry they’ll get punished along with us if we lose.”

“More glory for us when we win, then, right?” I smiled up at her, but to my surprise she shook her head.

“It’s not glory we’re fighting for, Cer.” she said, climbing the ladder up to the cockpit as I took my seat by one of the viewports. “Not power, not money, not any ‘a that. We’re fighting for freedom, for change. Even for people who fear it.”

“Ready to take off when you are.” Vonnie called out from inside the cockpit after a second, evidently not wanting to cut off Hes’ speech before she was finished

Hes smiled and uttered a confident “Let’s rock n’ roll” as she disappeared into the cockpit, leaving me in the cargo hold with the rest of her squadron. I began to mentally dissect what she’d said, but before I could get very far the ship jerked into the air, jarring me from my thoughts and nearly jarring me from my seat. Peeking out the viewport next to me, I watched as we slowly rose into the sky, squinting slightly as the morning sun came into view. I looked down, and I could already see people starting to fill the streets—evidently, news of the drop had spread, and everyone wanted to be out to get their share of it. It was nice to see that, for every Kivas on the planet, there was still a whole town’s worth of people who were on our side.

Suddenly, the ship jerked forward, and we began to speed over the town towards the east gate. I watched as the streets blurred below us, eventually thinning out into jungle as Vonnie slowly turned the ship around to make its first run over the city. From the cockpit, I heard her call back to the hold. “Alright, we’re a-go—Gemre, do your thing.”

“Got it!” Gemre called back, turning to Oh-Ar and opening a panel on his chest. I watched from my seat as he worked, straining to catch a glimpse of exactly what he was doing. Finally, it became clear: Oh-Ar suddenly jerked up and slapped his hand towards a dataport on the wall, and at that point I remembered we’d installed scomp links on both of his palms. I looked up at his still-open chest, and I saw a small screen displaying something I couldn’t quite recognize at the time. Gemre caught me staring, and he smiled down to me. “High-performance attachable targeting computer. Found it at the Assarda base yesterday—just had to shove his rightmost motivator outta the way, and it fit like a glove.”

“Whoah.” I uttered, smiling wide. It never failed to amaze me, what Gemre could make from mere salvage.

“Mhm.” he continued. “Figured it’d help to actually aim the supply canisters, so they don’t just go all over the place.” as he said that, he seemed to remember the mission at hand. He knocked on Oh-Ar’s metal carapace with the bottom of his fist, signaling to Vonnie that he was all set up. With that, the Lady Lucy soared back towards Tikaroo, and I quickly looked back out the viewport to watch as the drop commenced.

It was breathtaking. One by one, the supply canisters fell from the twin bomb bays on the Lady Lucy’s wings, cascading down towards the city’s streets. Yet unlike the instruments of death the ship was meant to carry, the canisters floated safely down towards Tikaroo’s dusty roads, and before they even touched the ground I saw people assembling around them. Once they landed, everyone moved in for their share. I saw a mother and father grabbing four bags of prepackaged food each, before sharing them all with their six little children. I saw another man take a long swig from a water bottle; from the way he drank, it seemed he hadn’t had fresh water in days. No one stole, no one fought, and everyone took only what they needed—lucky for them, there was plenty to go around, and they feasted just as the Angels had the night before. My first thought when I came to Tikaroo was how lifeless it looked, but right then I realized it wasn’t lifeless, but instead desperately clinging to life—and luckily, the Angels had come to rescue it from the brink. 

As we made our final pass over the city, all the people seemed to focus on us, cheering and shouting as we dropped the last of the canisters. In one swift motion, Vonnie turned the Lady Lucy about and rocketed over the city, flying low along the street just to give the people of Tikaroo a little show before we left. I looked back through my viewport, catching one last glimpse of the celebration in the streets before we flew over the city’s south gate.

“Best part ‘a the job.” I turned to see Hes smiling down at me from the balcony by the cockpit. I hadn’t realized then, but I probably had my face plastered to the viewport for the whole drop. “Glory, money, bustin’ up Imps—none of it beats getting to see the people you helped.” I smiled back to her, for I understood then what she’d said to me before. Going to whatever lengths possible to help the oppressed—that’s what it meant to be an Angel. After a second, Hes turned to address the whole cargo hold. “Alright, boys, looks like we’re home fre—”

Suddenly, the whole ship shook violently, knocking Hes to the floor before she could finish. She found her feet as the ship steadied itself, yelling up to the cockpit. “Vonnie, the hell was that!?”

“Nothin’ good!” I heard Vonnie yelled back, more panicked than I’d ever heard her before. “We got five TIEs on our back, comin’ in hot!”

“It’s worse than that!” Gemre called out, somehow even more panicked. “They hit one of the auxiliary starboard engines, it’s totally dead!” Sure enough, I looked out my viewport and saw the engine closest to me trailing smoke, and I tensed up in fear at the sight of it.

“Karabast!” Hes yelled, angrily slamming her fist against the hull of the ship. “Vonnie, try n’ shake ‘em! Gemre, see what you can do about that engine!”

“What part of ‘totally dead’ wasn’t clear?!” Gemre shouted, hastily un-hooking Oh-Ar from the dataport. “The best I can do is overfire the main starboard engine, but it’s still messed up from yesterda—”

“Just do what you have to, Gem!” Hes interrupted him, turning back to the rest of her squad. “Anyone ‘a you with two free hands better get your ass on a turret, now!” Instantly, anyone who wasn’t whiteknuclking it in their seats got up and scrambled towards one of the ship’s gunner stations, and with a burst of courage that surprised even me, I stood up too.

“What about me?” I called up to Hes, eliciting a slightly softer glance from her. “What can I do?”

Without missing a beat, Hes grabbed a parachute pack off the wall, throwing it to me. “Put that on, buckle up, and stay down.” she ordered. “This isn’t part ‘a your training”

At that, my courage fell away and I realized the gravity of the situation. Quickly, I ran back to my seat, fumbling with the straps on the parachute as I sat down. I eventually got it on, but before I could fasten my seatbelt, the ship suddenly rolled to the left, and I fell from the seat into the far wall. I must’ve hit my head at that point, because the next couple seconds were a blur. I remember trying to find my feet, but failing. I remember hearing more yelling, more explosions, all right next to me yet feeling too distant to make out. My head was swimming, and in an effort to stabilize myself, I rested my hands on the back wall of the ship. That was my biggest mistake; somewhere in my feeling around, I must have hit the button to open the ship’s rear hatch. Before I knew it, the hatch opened, and I tumbled out as soon as there was an opening big enough for me. I thought I heard someone yell my name as I was sucked out, but at that moment, it was impossible to tell.

Finally, as I was free-falling, my senses returned to me. The first thing I saw was the Lady Lucy receding away from me, growing smaller as Devaron’s green sky grew around it. I was still for a moment, but after that moment I turned towards the ground and pulled the ripcord on my parachute. It exploded out behind me, and as it fully unfurled I was jerked up, slowing my descent. It took a few seconds more for me to hit the ground, and I thankfully landed in a small clearing between the jungle vines, well away from any trees. I immediately wrestled the parachute from my shoulders, falling onto my back as soon as I got it off. I laid there hyperventilating for a moment, struggling to catch my breath as dug my fingers into the sparse jungle grass below me. I’d never appreciated solid ground as much as I did then.

But then, I looked up in astonishment at the sky once more. I saw the Lady Lucy flying above me, dipping and twirling to avoid the remaining TIE fighters, blaster bolts flying every which way. Smoke trailed from two of her engines, yet still, she held her own. I silently cheered them on, watching with bated breath as the ship’s turrets shot down each of the fighters. When the last one went down, I smiled. Once again, the Angels came out on top. My joy was short-lived, however. After a second, the Lady Lucy rocketed off towards the horizon, and as their trailing smoke dissipated I realized the full gravity of my situation.

For the first time in my life, I was alone.


End file.
